10 OLD WIVES’ TALES FROM AN OLD WIFE

My mother was very country, and by that I mean, she was raised in a very rural area. She learned old wives’ tales, or superstitions if you will, from her mother. They were passed to down to me when I was growing up.

My mother was pretty adamant about us following these wives’ tales because she believed in them. She was not unique in her belief either. Most of the people of her generation in the town where I grew up believed in these as well.

Here are 10 old wives’ tales that were passed down to me.

If your ears are burning, someone is talking about you.

It’s funny about this one. So many people know this old wives’ tale that no one blinks when I would say someone must have been talking about me because my ears were burning. Sometimes I have walked up on a group, and they have said “we were just talking about you.” My response is usually “I wondered because my ears were burning.” I’m telling you, not one person has given any indication that they didn’t know what I’m talking about.

If your nose is itching, company is coming.

My mother was big on this one. I have allergies so my noses itches quite frequently. Honestly, I never saw it work for me. Sometimes I throw it out to my children to get a reaction from them, but I don’t think it really works. My nose itches so much with allergies that if it really worked, my house would be like Grand Central Station!

If your palm itches, you will get unexpected money.

This one works for me every time. EVERY TIME. For me it’s my left palm. If my left palm is itching then I will receive unexpected money. Let me reiterate – EVERY TIME. My left palm will itch relentlessly until the money arrives, and then it stops.

My family is aware of this and so when they see me scratching my left palm, they comment about me getting money from some unexpected source. It’s hard to believe an old wives’ tale really works, but this one works for me.

If you wash clothes on New Years’ Day, you will wash someone out of the family.

I’m afraid to put this one to the test. If the palm itching thing works, then this one might work as well, so my family knows there will be no laundry done on New Years’ Day. They don’t even ask anymore.

A long time ago, one of my sisters forgot and washed clothes on New Years, and she said she worried all year that someone would die, and it it would be her fault.  See how ingrained these things are in our life?

If you break a mirror, you will have 7 years of bad luck.

I try not to believe that all of the bad things that have happened to me in my life are a result of breaking a mirror, but I do try to not break any mirrors. Seven years is a long time.

A black cat crossing your path will bring bad luck.

This is one that has an example outside of my family. It goes to show that it wasn’t just my mother that believed it.  

I was in high school and got into a friends’ car to go somewhere, and there was smudges of small crosses all of the windshield. I asked my friend about them, and was told that each cross was for when a black cat crossed their path.  My friend believed you had to cross yourself or your windshield to ward off the bad luck.

If you forget something when you leave your house and go back into the house to get it, you must sit down before going back out to the car, or you will have trouble on your trip.

When I was growing up, and my mother forgot something, she would send one of us back into the house to get it. The first thing she asked when we got back in the car was “did you sit down before you came back out to the car?” If we said no, she would make us go back into the house and sit down before she would leave the driveway. We soon learned to not forget to sit down.

It is so ingrained in me that I’m afraid to test it, but I don’t sit down all the way. I just touch my behind on the couch or chair for a second and call it good.

Opening an umbrella indoors will bring bad luck.

This one has been tested in my adulthood and no bad luck has appeared. I tried it on my kids, and they just laughed at it.

If it rains on your wedding day, your marriage will be full of tears.

I heard this from my mother every time anyone got married. The only personal test of this one was when my daughter got married.

The weather leading up to the wedding was rainy, and it rained on her wedding day. In fact,it was an outdoor wedding, and she got married in the rain. She did not believe in this old wives’ tale, but her very short marriage was full of heartache and tears.

Eating greens on New Years’ Day represents how much green money you will have the next year, and eating black eyed peas represents how many coins you will have the next year.

I always tell my family, that I am going to eat a million dollars worth of greens every year. I really have no idea how many greens would equal a million dollars, but I eat a lot of them. Needless to say, I have yet to have one million dollars come to me in any one year. I still keep trying. It’s a good thing I like greens!

As you can see these 10 old wives’ tales have been a part of my life from early childhood. My husband who is from Australia thinks I’m silly to worry about them, because he never heard any of them growing up and never developed a belief in them.

For me it’s hard to turn off years of conditioning. The good news is you don’t have to pay attention to them if you don’t believe.

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